Cap

ABSTRACT

A cap includes a crown portion for disposing on a head, and a visor portion for shielding a face from sunlight, the visor portion being coupled to the crown portion. The visor portion is provided with a symbol portion formed as an engraved shape or a hole.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] (a) Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to a cap and, more particularly, toa cap that is designed to improve esthetic appearance.

[0003] (b) Description of the Related Art

[0004] Generally, a cap has a crown portion and a visor portion coupledto the crown portion, for protecting and shading the face from sunlight.In recent years, it has been required that such a cap be made with anunusual design for persons of marked individuality and for the purposeof advertisement. To meet this requirement, the applicant has developeda cap that has an enhanced esthetic appearance for a person of markedindividuality, while providing an advertisement effect.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0005] Therefore, the present invention has been made in an effort tomeet the above described need.

[0006] It is an objective of the present invention to provide a cap thatcan enhance the esthetic appearance for a person of markedindividuality, while providing an advertisement effect.

[0007] To achieve the above objective, the present invention provides acap comprising a crown portion for disposing on a head; and a visorportion for shielding a face from sunlight, the visor portion beingcoupled to the crown portion, wherein the visor portion is provided witha symbol portion formed as an engraved shape or a hole. The symbolportion provides various esthetic appearances because of a cloth thatalso covers the visor portion so that the symbol portion is viewedthrough the cloth.

[0008] Preferably, the cloth is selected from the group consisting ofmesh cloth, transparent cloth, and semitransparent cloth. Furtherpreferably, the cloth contains luminous material.

[0009] Preferably, the symbol portion is filled with colored orcolorless material, and has the shape of a letter, mark, or character.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cap according to a firstembodiment of the present invention;

[0011]FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line A-A in FIG. 1;

[0012]FIG. 3 is a partial sectional view of a major part of a capaccording to a first embodiment of the present invention;

[0013]FIG. 4 is a view of a cap according to a second embodiment of thepresent invention;

[0014]FIG. 5 is a view of a cap according to a third embodiment of thepresent invention; and

[0015]FIG. 6 is a view of a cap according to a fourth embodiment of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0016] The preferred embodiments of the present invention will bedescribed in more detail in conjunction with the attached drawings.

[0017] Referring to FIG. 1, a cap according to a first embodiment of thepresent invention has a crown portion 1 for mounting on a head, and avisor portion 3 connected to the crown portion 1. The visor portion 3may be connected to the crown portion by needlework, and the crownportion 1 is designed to cover all of the head, as shown in FIG. 1.However, it may be designed in a band or rim shape surrounding only thecircumference of the head.

[0018] The visor portion 3 is for blocking sunlight from the face. Asshown in FIG. 2, the visor portion 3 has a shape-maintaining member 31,a top cloth 33 disposed on a top surface of the shape-maintaining member31, and a bottom cloth 35 disposed on a bottom surface of theshape-maintaining member 31.

[0019] The shape-maintaining member 31 is preferably formed of syntheticresin or paperboard so as to maintain the predetermined shape of thevisor portion 3. The shape-maintaining member 31 is provided with asymbol portion 31 a for such things as characters, letters, andtrademarks formed by engraving a portion thereof. That is, the symbolportion 31 a is formed as an engraved groove or a hole by a lasercutting process.

[0020]FIG. 3 shows a cap of the first embodiment, in which a portion ofthe top cloth is removed.

[0021] The top cloth 33 may be attached to the head-wearing portion 1,the shape-maintaining member 31, and the bottom cloth 35 by, forexample, needlework or by adhesive, depending on the design ormanufacturing process of the cap.

[0022] Particularly, it is preferable that the top cloth 33 is selectedfrom the group consisting of mesh cloth, transparent cloth, andsemitransparent cloth so that the symbol portion 31 a can be exposedthrough the cloth. To improve the esthetic appearance, it is furtherpreferable that the top cloth 33 is formed in a variety of colors sothat the symbol portion 31 a can be seen through the top cloth 33. Inaddition, the top cloth 33 may be formed of cloth containing luminousmaterial so as to further enhance the esthetic aspect and to improve thesafety of the user at night.

[0023] The bottom cloth 35 is fixable to the top cloth 33 by needlework.When the bottom cloth 35 is formed in a variety of colors, the symbolportion 31 a can be represented in a variety of colors, making itpossible to design a cap capable of providing various estheticappearances. The bottom cloth 35 may be made of material identical tothe top cloth 33, but the present invention is not limited to thisembodiment. The bottom cloth 35 may also be formed of nontransparentcloth.

[0024] As described above, the shape-maintaining member 31 provided withthe symbol portion 31 a is coupled to the crown portion 1 by needleworkof the top and bottom cloth 33 and 35. However, needlework is only oneembodiment, not limiting the present invention. The visor portion may becoupled to the crown portion by a variety of methods. In addition, thecrown portion may be designed in a band shape.

[0025] In the above-described cap, when light passes through the symbolportion 31 a, the shape of the symbol portion 31 a is represented sothat it can be identified. The color of the shape represented by thesymbol portion 31 a can be varied according to the color of the topcloth 33 covering the symbol portion 31 a, improving the estheticappearance.

[0026] Referring now to FIG. 4, a cap according to a second embodimentof the present invention will be described. As in the first embodiment,the visor portion 3 is provided with a symbol portion 31 a. The symbolportion 31 a of this embodiment is formed of material having a differentcolor to that of the shape-maintaining member 31. A filler 37 having anidentical shape to the symbol portion 31 a may be filled in the symbolportion 31 a. In this embodiment, the top and bottom cloth 33 and 35described in the first embodiment may be omitted.

[0027] The cap of this second embodiment further improves the estheticappearance when compared with that of the first embodiment.

[0028]FIG. 5 shows a cap according to a third embodiment of the presentinvention. In this third embodiment, a filler 37 formed of materialhaving a different color to that of the shape-maintaining member 31 isfilled in the symbol portion 31 a and the top and bottom cloth coversthe visor portion. The filler 37 may be formed by filling liquidmaterial in the symbol portion 31 a and hardening the same or by moldingthe filler 37 in an identical shape to the symbol portion 31 a andfitting the same in the symbol portion 31 a.

[0029]FIG. 6 shows a cap according to a fourth embodiment of the presentinvention.

[0030] The cap of this embodiment is similar to that of the secondembodiment except that a symbol portion 31 a is not filled with thefiller 37 but remains empty. In this embodiment, since theshape-maintaining member 31 is not covered with additional top andbottom cloth 33 and 35, manufacturing costs are reduced.

[0031] As described above, since a symbol portion including such thingsas characters and logos is provided on the shape-maintaining memberconstituting the visor portion, the esthetic appearance can be improved,while obtaining an advertisement effect.

[0032] In addition, when material having a different color is filled ina space defining the symbol portion, a cap having a variety of estheticappearances can be manufactured.

[0033] Furthermore, by making the top and bottom cloth using mesh cloth,transparent or semitransparent cloth, or a cloth containing luminousmaterial, the esthetic appearance may be further improved.

[0034] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variations can be made to the cap of the presentinvention without departing from the scope of the invention. The presentinvention covers the modifications and variations of this inventionprovided they come within the scope of the appended claims and theirequivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A cap comprising: a crown portion for disposingon a head; and a visor portion for shielding a face from sunlight, thevisor portion being coupled to the crown portion, wherein the visorportion is provided with a symbol portion formed as an engraved shape ora hole, the symbol portion being covered by a cloth so that the symbolportion is viewed therethrough.
 2. A cap comprising: a crown portion fordisposing on a head; and a visor portion for shielding a face fromsunlight, the visor portion being coupled to the crown portion, whereinthe visor portion is provided with a symbol portion formed as anengraved shape or a hole which is filled with a filler, the material andcolor of the filling material being different from those of the visorportion.
 3. A cap as recited in claim 1, wherein the symbol portion isfilled with a filler whose material and color are different from thoseof the visor portion.
 4. A cap comprising: a crown portion for disposingon a head; and a visor portion for shielding a face from sunlight, thevisor portion being coupled to the crown portion, wherein the visorportion is provided with a symbol portion formed as an engraved shape ora hole.
 5. A cap as recited in claim 1, wherein the cloth is a meshcloth.
 6. A cap as recited in claim 1, wherein the cloth is selectedfrom the group consisting of a transparent cloth and a semitransparentcloth.
 7. A cap as recited in claim 1, wherein the cloth containsluminous material.